Most of the time, the best ideas are borne out of one’s passion. In 2007, Cristalle Belo, daughter of well-known dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Vicki Belo and businessman Atom Henares, launched Belo Essentials, a line of skin whitening and skin care products, to reach out to the average Filipina.  It was during one of her frequent trips to the supermarket with her mom a few years before that the idea first sprung to life.  Cristalle noticed how her mom, who’s ever passionate about aesthetics, would always go to the beauty products shelves and how people would always come up to them, asking them if they have whitening soaps available for sale at affordable rates.

Needless to say, the idea took off.  Barely two months within its launch, the Belo Essentials whitening skin care line became a hot sell at supermarkets, groceries and drug stores nationwide.  It won the giant retailer SM’s Breakthrough Product of the Year the same year and bagged the Best in Bath Soap Category from Watson’s for two consecutive years in 2008-2009.  These prestigious awards can be likened to the Grammy Awards in the retail industry. Recently, Belo Essentials launched its new and improved body care line via a grand launch at the Greenbelt 5 Park, complete with star-studded guests including Belo Essentials lover, Bea Alonzo and an awesome fashion show with stunning models.  The launch coincided with the celebration of Belo Medical Group’s 19th year.

Talking about the launch was something that made Cristalle’s eyes instantly light up, as she says it showed how far Belo Essentials has come... even in a short span of time.

“When we were starting out before, we didn’t have that big of a launch yet,” she recalls.  “We just had small dinners where we would introduce our product to different retailers.  So the (Aug. 18) event was a big one for us.”

The 26 year-old Cristalle definitely has taken the role of heading Belo Essentials and leading it to its current success in the market with much aplomb.  When it comes to the business, she speaks with a certain confidence and maturity, not usual to those her age, but still manages to be playful and casual when posing with her precious dogs during the photo shoot at the Belo residence in Makati City.

But flashback to about seven years ago, it was hard to picture that this would be the case.  Back then, Cristalle was a Business Management student at the Ateneo de Manila University and was clueless on what career path she wanted to pursue which would allow her to maximize her full potential as Cristalle Belo and not as Dr. Vicki and Atom’s daughter.

“When I was in college, I used to feel really pressured and I kept asking myself ‘what am I going to do that can make my parents proud because it seems like they have accomplished almost everything,’” she says.  

Cristalle graduated in 2004 but before heading out to join the corporate world, decided to join the Jesuits Volunteers Philippines where she was designated to teach pre-school children in Malaybalay, Bukidnon for ten months.  

This was an experience that Cristalle knew she had to do before devoting herself to the family business and the corporate world.  It turned out to be an experience she would always look back to and forever be grateful for.

“Being a volunteer helped me in so many ways because it was able to ground me. It taught me how to be a man for others, something the Jesuit priests always used to teach us. It was a very humbling experience,” she shares.  “There was a lot of spiritual formation involved.  I was able to strengthen my faith and my relationship with the Lord.  Aside from enjoying the peace and the simple life in Bukidnon, living away from Manila made me realize that there are so many activities and opportunities out there in provinces such as Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Butuan, etc!  My world opened up, and on top of that, it was able to make me feel a bit more independent from my mom.  It was the first time that I lived away from her.”

For someone used to being well taken cared of, living away from home wasn’t easy for Cristalle.  As a volunteer, she had a Php 3,500 salary per month.  She had to pay monthly rent of Php 600 for the boarding house she stayed in and set aside a budget of Php 50 per day for food.  During her stay there, Dr. Vicki would often call and insist in sending her money, but Cristalle adamantly refused the whole time.  “I needed to experience how people work hard to earn a living so that I can appreciate everything that I have even more,” Cristalle explains.

When Cristalle got back to Manila, Dr. Vicki asked her to go to medical school.  A daunting task since she lacked Science units and needed to take it in one fell swoop: one year.

“I was really overwhelmed,” she recalls.  “I was doing it for my mom, and it wasn’t really my passion so the more it became overwhelming.  Then in my second semester, I realized that this was something that doesn’t make me happy.  It was hard for me to drop out because I never really let down my parents. I was always an achiever, and I always want to make them happy, especially my mom.  So it was hard for me to tell her that it wasn’t something I wanted to do.”

Cristalle finally broke the news to her mom, and it was something Dr. Vicki took in in stride.

“She told me, ‘You just had to try it because you’ll never know if you like it or not, if it is for you or not, if you don’t try it,’” she shares.  It was then when Cristalle became intent on making her mom’s dream of launching her own skin care line a reality.

“We wanted to reach out to other Filipinos not just as Belo Medical Group, but with a skin care line where my mom would be able to put all her knowledge and expertise in a product that can be distributed nationwide and would be very affordable,” she says.

For the mother and daughter team and a group of experts in beauty and skin care, it was easy to develop and launch a body and skin care line. Basing on the large cilentele at the Belo Medical Group who prefer the whitening treatment, the two already know that people like two things, which is, to have whiter, fairer skin, and to have soft, smooth skin.  

“And they want these in one product,” Cristalle insists. “So with Belo Essentials whitening line, we give them the best of both worlds.”

There was no faltering on the part of Cristalle as they prepared for the line to be initially launched into the market.

“As a management graduate, I knew I could do it. It was a matter of getting the right people on my team,” she says. However, Cristalle is one woman who knows learning is a continuous process. She is currently taking up her MBA in the University of Western Australia, which she is set to complete by fourth quarter of 2010.

“It’s very good for me,” she quips. “I’m able to learn theories and learn applicable points for my business.”

She also looks forward to working with her classmates, who are mostly above the 30-year-old age bracket, as she learns from them a lot as they come from different industries.

“There is so much diversity in the class, I had a groupmate who’s a scientist and studies earthquakes,” she says, obviously amused.

With the class, she says she gets an overflow of ideas on best practices, and systems and processes fit for her business. Still she insists that she owes a lot to her parents.  

“Well, my dad is a finance director and my mom is a doctor,” she says.  “My mom is very outgoing and my dad is very calculated.  I’d like to think that I got the necessary training from both of them.  So I’m a good mix of the two.  I’m sort of a risk-taker which my mom is, but I’m also able to step back and look at my options which I got from my dad.”

Cristalle feels blessed having the support of both parents.

“I really feel their support especially during the launch,” Cristalle says.  “I believe that they’ve already set the platform for me, and they just want me to go out there and shine.”

And shine she did.  Not only has Belo Essentials taken over the market here in the Philippines (they currently distrubute in about 5,000 stores nationwide), it also has distribution in the US, both in the East and West Coast, Canada and United Arab Emirates (UAE).  Plans are underway for Belo Essentials to be available in HongKong as well, through the assistance of Watson’s.  And it doesn’t stop there.

“As the offers come, we scope it and see if it’s a good project to venture to,” she says.

With all her success, Cristalle emphasizes that it is her passion for what she does, which was instrumental for her to achieve it.

“Do what you love.  Do something that will make you get out of bed everyday. Be excited about what you’re going to do, excited about what your plans are for the day.  It should be something which could keep you up at night sometimes that you find it hard to sleep because ideas just rush in.  That’s called passion and that’s something you could never buy,” she says.  And for someone who has everything, we will definitely take her word for it. -end-